Healthcare patients are commonly given fluids such as medication and nutrients by being connected to fluid-delivery systems via fluid vessels. Common fluid vessels for delivering such fluids include small-bore tubes and catheters. A problem arises when these fluid tubes are misconnected. That is, when a tube from one fluid delivery system is connected to a tube intended for connection to another fluid delivery system that serves a completely different function, for example, when a feeding administration set is inadvertently connected to a tracheostomy tube. Such tubing misconnections are also referred to as LUER misconnections, small-bore misconnections, and/or wrong-route errors. Tubing misconnections have resulted in patient injuries and/or deaths, and are widely recognized as underreported.
An underlying cause of these misconnections has been attributed to the universal design of LUER connectors, which are one of the most commonly used types of small-bore connectors in healthcare. These connectors are used to couple the tubing of one medical device to another. However, the simple design and ease of use of LUER connectors allows the tube of the device of one delivery system to be connected to a tube of an unrelated system that has a different intended use (e.g., vascular, enteral, respiratory, epidural, or intrathecal), resulting in healthcare providers inadvertently connecting wrong systems together and thereby causing liquids (e.g., medications or enteral feedings) or gases (e.g., oxygen) to be delivered through the wrong route.
Efforts are underway to develop standards, such as the ISO 80369 standards, for tubing connections. These standards hold the promise of significantly addressing the tubing-misconnection problem. For example, these standards provide for a new connector for enteral feeding tubes that prevents misconnection to non-enteral connectors. This new enteral-only tube connector is also referred to as the ENFIT connector.
Yet there remain other opportunities for improving these and other connectors. For example, the new ENFIT connector for enteral feeding tubes includes an outer housing that could retain feeding liquids and thereby allow for bacteria colonization. This can result in unsanitary conditions that can inadvertently contaminate feeding fluids later delivered to the patient through the degraded ENFIT connector.
Accordingly, it can be seen that needs exist for improved connectors for fluid tubes to reduce the risk of bacteria colonization. It is to the provision of solutions to this and other needs that the present invention is primarily directed.